Meet Jill Munson, Co-Founder of Wildling

At Ancient + Brave, we believe beauty and wellbeing begin from within, shaped by the rituals we return to, the plants that support us, and the ways we care for both body and mind. It is a philosophy closely shared by Wildling, a holistic skincare brand rooted in plant medicine, ancestral wisdom, and the understanding that beauty extends far beyond the surface.

Wildling co-founder Jill Munson spent two decades working within the beauty industry before her study of herbalism brought her interests in botanicals, ritual, and skin health together in a new way. Today, she draws upon both traditional wisdom and modern skincare innovation to create formulas and tools designed to support the skin’s natural vitality and flow.

We spoke with Jill about the journey that led her to Wildling, the deeper purpose of gua sha, and what it means to approach beauty as an interconnected practice for the skin, body, and mind.

Q&A

Your career began within some of the world’s most recognized beauty companies. What inspired you to move toward herbalism, plant medicine, and a more holistic understanding of beauty? 

I spent more than 20 years working in beauty product development, brand strategy, and marketing, and I learned an incredible amount from talented colleagues and some of the most successful organizations in the industry. But even while working within traditional beauty, I was always drawn to the idea of beauty from the inside out, how the way we live, nourish ourselves, manage stress, and care for our bodies ultimately shows up in how we look and feel.

I had also always been drawn to plants and herbalism, so studying herbal medicine felt less like a departure and more like a natural evolution of something that had been there all along. It deepened my understanding of skin as part of a much larger interconnected system. Our circulation, lymphatic flow, stress levels, sleep, hormones, nutrition, and emotions can all influence how our skin looks and feels.

Wildling grew from bringing those worlds together: everything I had learned in beauty, alongside my belief in healthy living, plant medicine, intentional touch, and working with the body rather than trying to override it. For me, it wasn’t a shift away from beauty, but an expansion of what beauty could be.

Wildling is founded on the belief that we are not simply part of nature, but that we are nature. What does this philosophy mean to you, and how does it shape the way you create?

For me, it means remembering that there isn’t really a separation between us and the natural world. Our bodies operate through rhythms, cycles, adaptation and regeneration, just as nature does. We are made of the same elements and governed by many of the same natural rhythms.

That perspective influences almost everything we create at Wildling. We look for ingredients and practices that work in relationship with the skin rather than trying to dominate or aggressively manipulate it. It also means respecting the intelligence of the body. Sometimes the most powerful thing we can do is support the systems already there - circulation, lymphatic movement, the skin barrier, rest and repair.

It creates a different starting point for beauty: not what can we correct, but how can we support the body in functioning beautifully.

Gua sha has become a widely recognized beauty practice, but its roots extend far beyond modern skincare. What do you wish more people understood about its history and deeper purpose?

I think it’s important to remember that gua sha was never created as a beauty trend. It is rooted in Traditional Chinese Medicine and has been practiced for centuries as a therapeutic technique on the body.

Facial gua sha is much gentler, but the underlying philosophy remains important. It is about encouraging movement and circulation and working intentionally with the body rather than simply sculpting the face into a particular shape.

The visible benefits, less puffiness, more definition, and brighter-looking skin are wonderful, but to me the deeper value is the relationship you develop with your own face and body through touch. You begin noticing where you hold tension, where you feel stagnant, and how different you can feel after just a few minutes of intentional care.

Wildling brings together ancestral wisdom and modern skincare innovation. How do you honor the origins of these practices while making them relevant and accessible today?

Respect and education are incredibly important to us. We hold deep respect for healing traditions that have been practiced for thousands of years. Herbal medicine appears across cultures and healing traditions around the world, while gua sha comes specifically from Traditional Chinese Medicine. We always acknowledge where these practices come from rather than presenting them as something Wildling invented.

At the same time, our role is to thoughtfully translate this wisdom into a modern context. We incorporate it into our products and rituals in ways that feel relevant, approachable, and grounded in how people live today.

I love that ancient practices and modern science don’t have to exist in opposition. Often science helps us understand mechanisms behind things people have intuitively or traditionally practiced for generations. The opportunity is to bring those worlds together without stripping away the history or meaning of the original practice.

Ritual is central to both Wildling and Ancient + Brave. What transforms an everyday routine into a meaningful ritual, and why do you believe that distinction matters?

For me, the difference is intention.

A routine is something you complete. A ritual is something you participate in.

It doesn’t have to be elaborate or take a long time. It can be three minutes of gua sha in the morning or taking a moment to massage your skincare into your face rather than rushing through it. What matters is that you are actually present.

There is something powerful about turning care into a moment of connection rather than another task on the list. Beauty culture can so easily become about scrutinizing ourselves. Ritual creates an opportunity to replace some of that criticism with curiosity and care.

You approach skin health, physical health, and emotional wellbeing as interconnected. What are some of the less obvious ways our internal wellbeing may show up through the skin?

The skin is incredibly responsive to what is happening internally.

Stress is one of the clearest examples. When we’re under chronic stress, we can hold enormous tension in the jaw, forehead, scalp, neck and shoulders, and that can influence how the face looks and feels. There is also a fascinating and growing body of research around the connection between the skin and nervous system, something we explored when creating our Cosmic Intervention Night Repair Mask. The formula was designed with this skin-brain connection in mind, helping to soften the visible effects of facial tension while supporting the skin overnight. Sleep, hydration, hormones and digestion can also show up through changes in tone, sensitivity, dryness, congestion or puffiness.

One area I find particularly fascinating is lymphatic movement. Unlike the cardiovascular system, the lymphatic system doesn’t have a central pump, so movement, breath and muscular activity all play a role in supporting flow. When things feel stagnant, you can often see that reflected in facial puffiness.

It’s one of the reasons our philosophy extends beyond what you put on your skin. Touch, movement, rest and nervous-system regulation can all be part of a beautiful skin ritual.

Ingredient integrity and sourcing are foundational to Wildling. What do you look for when selecting the plants, herbs, and materials used within your products and tools?

We always start with function. An ingredient has to earn its place in a formula.

From there, we look closely at quality, sourcing, processing and the relationship between the ingredient and the skin. I’m particularly drawn to plants with a long history of traditional use, but we also want to understand what modern research tells us about them.

How something is grown or harvested matters, as does how it is extracted and processed. A beautiful botanical can lose much of what makes it special if it is handled poorly.

We also think about the sensory experience. Texture, slip, scent from the raw materials and the way a formula interacts with touch are all important because our products are designed to be used as part of a ritual, not simply applied and forgotten.

Beauty culture often focuses on correcting or fighting the signs of aging. What does skin longevity mean to you, and how can we build a more supportive relationship with our skin as it changes?

I would love to see beauty move away from the language of fighting aging.

Skin longevity, to me, is about supporting skin so that it remains resilient, strong and healthy throughout every stage of life. That means caring for the barrier, protecting the skin from unnecessary stress, encouraging circulation and supporting its natural repair processes rather than constantly pushing it harder.

Our faces are going to change. That is part of being alive. I don’t think the goal should be to erase every sign of that.

There’s a wonderful shift that can happen when beauty becomes less about trying to return to an earlier version of yourself and more about taking incredibly good care of the person you are now.

Finally, what does living bravely mean to you?

Living bravely means being willing to listen to yourself, even when what you hear requires you to change direction.

It’s having the courage to remain curious, to question what you’ve been taught, and to keep evolving rather than staying attached to one version of who you think you’re supposed to be.

For me, bravery isn’t always something dramatic. Often it’s found in the quieter choices: trusting your intuition, creating something you believe in, allowing yourself to change, and continuing to move forward without knowing exactly where everything will lead.